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en-usEngadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronicsCopyright 2018 AOL Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.https://massively.joystiq.com/2015/01/31/the-stream-team-more-albion-online-winter-alpha-adventures/https://massively.joystiq.com/2015/01/31/the-stream-team-more-albion-online-winter-alpha-adventures/https://massively.joystiq.com/2015/01/31/the-stream-team-more-albion-online-winter-alpha-adventures/#comments

When you have a whole month of Albion Onlinealpha, you take advantage of it! Massively's MJ is jumping back in to pound rocks, chops trees, slice and dice heretics, and get ill at the sounds of skinning. What better way to spend a Saturday? Join us live at 12:00 p.m. for another look at this developing sandbox.

It's back to bunny butchering for Massively's MJ -- if she can manage to do it! Albion Online has started its winter alpha test, and MJ excitedly jumped in to explore more of this game. And then she remembered: In order to make armor and weapons so she can explore, she's faced with having to participate in a few rounds of bunny punching. (Let's not even remind her of the skinning sounds!) Can she do it? Or can she find something a little less cuddly that will work? Or maybe she won't even worry about new clothes and just become a farmer instead! Join us live at 8:00 p.m. for a look at how far Albion has come since its summer test.

Albion Online's upcoming alpha event begins on January 26th, and in case you're not already excited, Sandbox Interactive has released a new trailer that may put you in the mood.

The clip runs just over a minute in length, which is more than enough time to tease updated environments and textures, the new farming system, new visual effects, and large-scale PvP. Click past the cut to have a look!

There will be plenty of new and updated systems to check out during this testing cycle, including an extensive farming system, consumables, more weapons, more skills, and player and guild islands. Another significant change is that players can flag themselves as friendly or hostile in PvP areas, effectively adding consensual PvP into the game.

Albion Online's winter test will be available to legendary ($100) and epic ($50) founders and will last for four weeks.

If you are all thumbs at PvP but have a green thumb in real life, Albion Online has the calling for you: farmer. The upcoming sandbox is adding an agriculture system for players to engage in when not out braving the dangers of the world. On top of a relaxing alternative to combat, farming will provide buffs via foodstuffs and potions made from the bounty of the land.

The system is an involved one. Players can grow crops on farms and/or raise livestock on pastures. The farmed produce and grains can then be processed via mills and cooking pots into consumables or fed to the cattle, goats, chickens and more (which in turn produce consumables like eggs, milk, and meat). So grab your overalls and get ready to share some cakes, kabobs, pies, and potions with hungry friends and customers.

Sandbox Interactive has been busy compiling and utilizing all the information that was gleaned fromAlbion Online's summer alpha event last month, and now the studio has developed a new six-month road map for the game. Going off of the team's internal list that prioritizes more than 170 features of changes to the game as well as features that will be added, Founder and CEO Stefan Wiezorek presented the road map to backers and fans to give them an overall perspective of the upcoming work. Everything from crime-flagging to territory upkeep to dungeons to building to mounts is covered; even farming and salvaging have sections. It's a pretty meaty post, so for all the juicy details, head to the official forums.

Wiezorek also noted that in order to reach the goal of having 50% of this list completed by the Winter Alpha event, the devs will postpone the event until mind or late January instead of December. The start date for this winter event will be available come December.

Albion Online is the latest upcoming MMO to garner enough community approval to make it onto Steam. Sandbox Interactive said that the sandbox title was successfully greenlit and is now an official member of the Steam family.

As with other MMOs available through Valve's digital distribution platform, Albion Online will remain accessible apart from Steam. The game is currently in alpha and has founder's packs available for purchase.

If you are interested in getting an early peak at how Albion Online is developing, you're in luck: Its special summer alpha event just kicked off today! And that means Massively's MJ is on the case, ready to explore all the nooks and crannies of this new experience. First task: Get some clothes on! Players in Albion are not given a bunch of niceties; they have to go earn them for themselves. Join us live at 2:00 p.m. for this first look inside the alpha test.

You could be forgiven for thinking it's a bit too late for "summer" events to take place right now, but Albion Online is forging ahead with its summer alpha event. The closed alpha client is now available for players to log in and explore all of the available systems, from gathering and trading resources to engaging in large-scale PvP battles.

If you're not at one of the game's higher Founder tiers, of course, the alpha test is closed to you; all you can do is look on with interest and wish you were playing. Streams and reports will be coming out of this test, including one planned by our own MJ Guthrie at 2 p.m. EDT this afternoon. If you like what you see, you can pick up one of the Founder Packs, or you can just keep watching and waiting as the alpha test rolls on.

Ahead of the opening of Albion Online's alpha doors on September 15th, Sandbox Interactive has released a new gameplay video detailing what's inbound for testers and new founders. Specifically, the team has been hard at work on mounts (horses for you and oxen for your stuff), guild alliances, fast-travel via ships, the housing system, improved maps (like the slick and shiny one above), castle sieges, and the player-governed cities that serve as the foundation of the game's political content.

Excited to get your mitts on Albion Online? If you've got alpha access, you'll get your chance on September 15th. Developer Sandbox Interactive is opening up the game to testers so they can explore the game, hunt for bugs, and find out what's changed in the most recent build if they've tested before. The current test window is for 14 days (until September 29th) but it may be extended depending on performance, feedback, and player numbers.

If you're not already a tester, you can buy one of the game's founder packs to get in and start testing when September rolls around; the $50 pack is the lowest priced option to allow for participation in this particular alpha test. Or you can nab a key during a giveaway elsewhere, that will work too.

Excited about Albion Online? Ambivalent about Albion Online? Never heard of Albion Online before this very moment whilst being extremely tired of this narrative device? Whichever category describes you, you can click on past the break to get a look at a new trailer for the game, showing just what players can expect once they load up the game.

Albion Online boasts a variety of features including a player-driven economy, freeform progression, a lack of levels, and abilities defined by your choice of equipment. You can see some of it in action in the trailer; you can also support the game now to purchase alpha access and watch as the game moves through development. It's a cross-platform game designed for Windows, Macs, Android, Linux, and iOS devices.

Let's cut to the chase: You want to know how much it'll cost you to get into Albion Online alpha program in September? Fifty bucks. Thirty dollars if you're willing to wait for next year's beta.

Now that your curiosity is sated, let's talk about the trio of founder's packs that Albion Online has just made available to buy. The least expensive tier is the veteran pack at $29.95, which comes with beta access in Q1 2015, in-game currency, and 30 days of premium access. The epic and legendary packs are $49.95 and $99.95 respectively, and include (among other goodies) access to the summer and winter alpha program, special nametags, cosmetic outfits, and even (in the case of the lgendary pack) mounts.

Looking for a house in the Albion Online neighborhood? There isn't a lot there at the moment, just empty lots and plenty of potential, but the devs are promising that players will find housing indespensible when the game arrives.

In a new blog post, the team talks about how players will be able to claim a slice of open world land on which to build a lovely villa (or to use for various crafting needs). While housing will fulfill the need of interior decorators, a great deal of thought has been given to make them functional.

Houses will store wardrobes and chests for extra inventory, provide a respawn point, buff your character via trophies, and give a temporary boost to your hit points and energy. Players may choose from one of three permission levels when it comes to allowing others to visit and even modify the place.

The sandbox MMO has implemented fast travel based on user feedback, but the feature has some interesting limitations. For one, fast travel can only happen over water. It is also limited to safe cities and hubs, and costs a fair bit of money. As a bit of an RP element, fast travel is done like ship travel, so the cost will go up according to the weight you're carrying. This makes sure that players won't use fast travel at all times, and may take into consideration whether travel by foot or horseback might be the better choice in particular situations.

"The player is unable to fight, gather or interact with any buildings while on horseback. Mounts will provide a number of buffs to the character, which are effective immediately when they mount, and deactivate when they dismount," the team posted.

While mounts won't be trampling over enemy's corpses, they will come in armored versions that can shrug off more damage if a player is attacked. Mounts are not only represented by horses, but oxen as well, with the latter being more suited to transporting goods over long distances.

You can see a quick video of Albion's mounts in action after the break!

Albion Online is ditching the traditional level grind mechanic for something they call the Destiny Board that allows for more control and specialization for characters.

The Destiny board was molded entirely by the feedback of players who were unhappy with the previous version that saw progression they felt was too linear. Now, instead of completing tasks and quickly moving on to the next one, players can choose to dive deeper into any aspect of their character, from combat strategies and tactics to a specific craft or trade.

Albion's latest press release talks up the fantasy sandbox's new player-driven cities. Initially said cities will be empty and will provide players with the opportunity to both claim them and "create whole new societies from the ground up."

"These new cities will be strewn throughout the world, including deep inside PvP territory; these cities will be places where all players, regardless of their guild affiliations, can build houses and storage for themselves, utilize crafting stations and trade at an auction house, access their vaults, and otherwise prepare themselves for venturing back out into danger," explains lead game designer Robin Henkys.

Cities will be owned by a single controlling guild, which will reap various benefits including market and property taxes. Click past the cut for more details.

Are you interested in diving into Albion Online's closed alpha that launched today? If so, zip on over to the official site; the cross-platform sandbox offered a limited number of keys for this test run, and you can still sign up for a chance at a testing spot even if you missed out on the giveaway.

Testers will see new updates that include customizable player housing which can affect player stats, new guild functionality including customizable coats of arms and searching for guild tools, a local marketplace for trade, and an in-game mail system. Players can also choose from more male avatars as well as the new female avatars. Get a glimpse of house building as well as the other updates in the video below.

"Heroes aren't born, they're made," the new Albion Online trailer states. "You are what you wear."

Sandbox Interactive's latest alpha trailer delivers a humorous illustration of how the gameplay can abruptly change with a simple costume switch. Players have different abilities, including gathering and fighting, depending on their outfits. The trailer's point is that it's important to identify what a player is wearing for his or her capabilities, but also that it's vital not to assume that's the only outfit they own.

You can check out the short trailer and the full press release after the jump!

Sandbox Interactive wants you to know about its upcoming Albion Online alpha test. It starts on March 24th, and it will be "the biggest we've ever run," according to SI community manager Yasmin Babb. You can sign up for a key on the official Albion website, but be aware that there's a long waiting list. Albion'salpha FAQ states that keys are normally distributed between six and 10 days prior to the next testing phase.

Albion bills itself as the world's first true cross-platform sandbox MMORPG. Click past the cut for the full press release.

In Albion Online, you are what you wear, and a new developer video delves into exactly how that works. The multi-platform fantasy game touts a classless system in which players' equipped gear determines their role, putting the power to create traditional roles or experiment with new ones in the hands of the players themselves. And the number of possible armor and weapon combinations is limited only by the number of items in the game.

The type of equipment is not the only form of customization in this system, either. Player-crafted spells are added to each piece of gear, further personalizing the individual items that make up each player-concocted set. Check out an early demonstration of the spellcrafting and hear more about the classless system in the video below.

Albion Online, which bills itself as "the first true cross platform sandbox MMORPG" has released a new video aiming to show said cross platform capabilities in action. The clip features the game being played in real time on a PC, a Mac, a Linux machine, an Android device, and an iOS device.

Sandbox Interactive plans to bring Albion into beta later this year. Click past the cut to watch the clip.

Cross-platform sandbox MMO Albion Online is getting something called a Destiny Board in place of traditional level dings. "Players instead earn small perks and bonuses over a period of time by performing actions based on what their character is learning," according to Sandbox Interactive.

Albion Online has some pretty ambitious design goals as a top-down multi-platform MMORPG with free-for-all PvP. A few players have gotten a chance to try the earliest testing build out, and there were some obvious questions, enough for the development team to post several answers. While the game is still early in alpha testing, it's an interesting look at the design philosophy and how harsh the environment really will be.

The core of Albion Online is that characters don't have specific levels or stats raised via levels; instead, everything comes down to what you can craft, which is increased as you gain more fame. According to the answers, unarmored characters will all have about 1000 life points. Items constantly degrade and can be looted by other players in combat, which means that there's always a drive to get more items, but finding more valuable materials will require a trek to more dangerous parts of the world. Check out the full list of answers for more details on how the designers look to keep the game lively and interesting.